He bit back a whimper as she turned away from him, almost dispairing that he'd given the wrong answer. But her words, and tone, when she spoke were reassuring and he couldn't help noticing that Andrei was sitting up and paying attention again, instead of sitting there despondently.

He took another breath and told Andrei, the excitement obvious in his voice, "She said she'd mark me up in pretty patterns and give you a complementary pattern too."